10 September 2005
The reason why
The iPod will be one of those business school examples of what to do right for the forseeable future. It is successful for reasons that trancsend engineering, design and marketing. It's a well-made product that beat its competitors on basically every level except price.
Compared to what was out at the time:
- It was smaller than anything else on the market because Apple was the first company to take on using Toshiba's 1.8-inch hard drive. This made it more expensive but it's a tradeoff Apple correctly predicted people would be willing to pay the difference for [see also: iPod mini bing the best-selling model until last week].
- Apple spent extra money for quality control, packaging and materials in the manufacturing not just to make it look better but to make it feel better to use. Early MP3 players had flimsy buttons, flexing plastic, bad seams, high defect rates, cheap boxes and manuals, etc. People commented how solid and well-made it felt. Again, spending more money made people more willing to spend money.
- They gave it a good interface. The current one is much better than the original but even then it far outclassed anything else on the market. This was a result of a decision that seems to rile up the nerdiest of people the most, namely ignoring file name and directory structure and using a centralazed database of ID3 information. They also put a damn wheel on the thing [and patented it] which in my opinion is still one of their primary advantages.
- They gave it an entirely distinctive look. This is part of what created the 'mystique' about it and is something that an entirely engineering-oriented company would never do. And even since, no company is willing to "go all the way" on a look, always deciding to offer a range or mix an accent color with a neutral.
You have plenty of people who will always think "oh, it's just trendy" or "oh, it's the marketing". It never was and it never will be.
Compared to what was out at the time:
- It was smaller than anything else on the market because Apple was the first company to take on using Toshiba's 1.8-inch hard drive. This made it more expensive but it's a tradeoff Apple correctly predicted people would be willing to pay the difference for [see also: iPod mini bing the best-selling model until last week].
- Apple spent extra money for quality control, packaging and materials in the manufacturing not just to make it look better but to make it feel better to use. Early MP3 players had flimsy buttons, flexing plastic, bad seams, high defect rates, cheap boxes and manuals, etc. People commented how solid and well-made it felt. Again, spending more money made people more willing to spend money.
- They gave it a good interface. The current one is much better than the original but even then it far outclassed anything else on the market. This was a result of a decision that seems to rile up the nerdiest of people the most, namely ignoring file name and directory structure and using a centralazed database of ID3 information. They also put a damn wheel on the thing [and patented it] which in my opinion is still one of their primary advantages.
- They gave it an entirely distinctive look. This is part of what created the 'mystique' about it and is something that an entirely engineering-oriented company would never do. And even since, no company is willing to "go all the way" on a look, always deciding to offer a range or mix an accent color with a neutral.
You have plenty of people who will always think "oh, it's just trendy" or "oh, it's the marketing". It never was and it never will be.
02 September 2005
What's wrong with the PSP?
Like a couple other million people in the world I own a PSP. I bought one on impulse after I got a bonus at work a few months ago. I've had a wonderful time playing Wipeout Pure, Hot Shots Golf and Metal Gear Ac!d [I'm one of those weirdos who likes card games]. It's a great system. The screen is amazing, the controls, graphics and sound are good, the form factor and battery life are decent and the multimedia capabilities are interesting.
So where are all the games?
It seems like every system since the Playstation has a "post-partum slump" when the games that didn't make it for launch are tweaked a bit. With the PSP it's getting a bit ridiculous though. Not that I'm not completely stoked about "You Got Served" on UMD but I bought a game system to play games on. So my questions are this: why are there so few games for the PSP? Given that I'm not entirely sure if anyone's ever even looked at this blog I'll propose a few theories on my own.
I actually bought a Nintendo DS last week, thanks to Advance Wars, Nintendogs and the promise of a new Mario & Luigi RPG. I still don't like the form factor, ergonomics and bulk of it but like all things about all consoles it all boils down to games.
So where are all the games?
It seems like every system since the Playstation has a "post-partum slump" when the games that didn't make it for launch are tweaked a bit. With the PSP it's getting a bit ridiculous though. Not that I'm not completely stoked about "You Got Served" on UMD but I bought a game system to play games on. So my questions are this: why are there so few games for the PSP? Given that I'm not entirely sure if anyone's ever even looked at this blog I'll propose a few theories on my own.
- The development environment sucks. Maybe the thing is a pain to code for because of PSP-specific things like load times and battery life.
- Sony is rejecting good game ideas. This is a popular one on game bulletin boards. Sony is so eager to show off their new system that they're rejecting anything that doesn't look good enough. This meme began thanks to SCEA rejecting some 2D games early in the Playstation's lifespan. The fact that Megaman Legends is being ported intact [it's even 4:3] and that there's an entirely new 2D Ghosts & Goblins game coming out is another way this seems unlikely
- The Dreamcast Memorial Death Cycle. Low units moved leading to lowered developer interest leading to fewer consoles in the hands of gamers. It could happen but the timing right now seems more like publishers are doing the "wait and see" thing instead of rejecting it.
- Publishers can't figure out where to slot the games. This is my personal favorite. Basically right now we have 2 kinds of games on the PSP: ones that are on the level existing generation console games complete with great graphics, a full licensed soundtrack, cutscenes, etc. and ones that are based more on the tradition handheld game market. The big shiny games are attractive to developers because they can re-use assets and charge more [up to $50] for them. THe smaller games are cheaper to produce but I think publishers are afraid that the games won't be seen as advanced enough to warrant a purchase. Basically publishers can't find a balance of cost, production value and pricing.
I actually bought a Nintendo DS last week, thanks to Advance Wars, Nintendogs and the promise of a new Mario & Luigi RPG. I still don't like the form factor, ergonomics and bulk of it but like all things about all consoles it all boils down to games.
